An Overnight Life: Chaotic First Impression

Continued from

The Unexpected Destination

.....

9:00AM

    As it turned out, all the apartments were quite decent, his as well. Just messy. Even that didn't matter though, being that his part of the place was cleared out. His roommates were actually very nice and accommodating guys. His original driver (who was actually Romanian not Israeli) told the young man that if he ever needed to go somewhere he could take him, and that he was there to make sure he was comfortable and at home. The worm farmer even lent the young man his coat until the young man could buy a new one. Just down the hall were two guys just about his age (why couldn't he have roomed with them?) one of whom was a shochet at just eighteen!

    His ride finally came. An Israeli who lit up a cigaret right as he entered the car. He was taken to the plant, swiped in, and lead through the workers lounge, some confusing stairs and turns, some noisy machinery, outside to where the yard was and into the Rabbi's lounge. He was immediately greeted by a tall and very friendly rabbi with a beard of grey.

"Hi! Welcome! So, where'd you go to yeshiva?"

"Australia, and a smicha program in NY."

"Nice, Nice....you're hired."

 The young man was given his boots, white pants, white work shirt that said "Rabbi" on the label, a long get-up that looked like a doctor's coat, ear plugs, glasses, beard net, hair net, and finally, a green helmet which indicated he was one of the rabbis.

Then began all the utter confusion

    The young man was strictly forbidden to disclose details of the plant's operations, so much of his tour must be left to the imagination. It matters not for he hardly knew what was going on. He could hardly hear the rabbi explaining what this was and what this was doing amongst the loud machinery and the barrier of ear plugs. 

    As they entered, the young man felt fear, not of the plant itself, but of all the uncertainty. It was another dimension. A totally new world.  The place seemed like a maze filled with chaos. He followed the rabbi as close as he could, weaving between cows on the line, dodging all the busy workers, all the while the rabbi kept explaining everything about the plant which the young man simply wasn't comprehending. It was so much to dive into. There was so much noise, so much going on all around him, so many people all doing different things and already the young man didn't even know how to get back outside. 

    He asked the rabbi to please explain everything in the quiet of his office so he could hear him, but then suddenly the rabbi got some message on his headphones. "Come" the rabbi said. He followed him to a line of cow halves and the rabbi grabbed some sort of stamp. He followed the rabbi up the line where the rabbi stamped a cow with a big red 'NK". "Every cow has a number." the rabbi explained, "You see they tell me and I stamp it, see? oh but see? it goes 40 then 36. what happened? Well.... and those are the USDA officers you want to stay out of their way... and here's where... but of course... and what you do is.... the red dot..." The young man wasn't getting anything the rabbi was saying. It was one thing to cram the whole plant into is head, let alone amongst all this chaos.

    He was lead into a cool and noisy room where workers stood on stages and cut whatever they were supposed to be cutting from a line of cow halves. "So your job today is hanging tenders. You have to make sure the kosher meat goes into this barrel and the treif goes into that. now remember you are the boss. he'll try to argue, but you are in charge. Now the blue dot means... now when they check the lungs they put... a red dot which... or  a red line which... so there's a hay because it's Thursday.

"Rabbi!"

"Yea!"

"Just explain what I need to do in your office and I'll get it!"

    He followed the rabbi like a duckling behind its mother out of the maze and back into the calm solitude of the rabbi's lounge. He sat across the rabbi's desk. "Ok," the rabbi began, "When the cow is shechted properly it's marked with a blue dot. When the lungs are checked they either put a red dot which means... or a red line which means... finally, if it checks out we paint on the kosher symbol. Today is Thursday so it's going to be a "hay". Now sometimes the red line will run down and look like say, a daled and the goy will think it's kosher. You have to be in charge and keep your barrel covered. If there's any doubt then keep it covered. He'll try to argue, but you are the boss. Sometimes the final lung checking will reveal that the cow is really treif, so you have to watch out for an "NK" underneath the symbol. The goy wont see that so you have to watch out for it."

    Finally the young man's first assignment was simplified. He could discard all the irrelevant information and simply focus on; a blue dot, a hay, and maybe an NK, all while having kosher meat tossed at his face. Simple enough.

But his day was about to get a lot more interesting